As Simple As That
by shywr1ter
Summary: S1, ML.  Finally, complete.  Another entry in the Christmas in July Challenge, my gift for Insane Troll Logic. 'A simple trade,' he said, was all it would take.   Max, Logan, Lydecker... and a cast of thousands!  Canon friendly.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: Dark Angel borrowed; as always, no profits realized.  
**

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**Christmas in July Challenge: Gift for Insane Troll Logic**

A/N: This story results from a Christmas in July Challenge/Story request engineered by RT4Ever, a sort of DA Secret Santa for writers, all of whom definitely lean M/L. In signing up for her present, each Giftee provided a wish list that the Giftor was to try and accommodate. In her gift request, Insane Troll Logic requested the following:

1) Lydecker  
2) Someone from Jam Pony captured by Manticore  
3) An Eyes Only broadcast

You just know I couldn't do this in one chapter – this will take a half-dozen or so chapters, but will be done soon! Thanks for reading; would love to hear any any all comments. And... _Merry Christmas, ITL and everyone!**  
**_

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_**AS SIMPLE AS THAT**_

_Chapter 1_

"It's a trade. A simple trade. No strings; you just come in, let us do some testing, a debriefing, and you're done."

Max felt a sense of unreality, knowing that a confrontation had been coming but not _this_, not like this, not standing on the street, visible to the world, Lydecker calmly 'inviting' her to come see him and implying that with such a simple act, she would be free of him.

She had come back from her first run of the day, the gloomy, gray fall day threatening rain which would serve to change the day from cool to bone-chilling. The past weeks had been tense and she had been irritable, the news disturbing: she had gotten a cryptic message from Zack that his sources put Lydecker in the area, with the plan of setting up a base of operations in her own back yard. No details, no idea if he brought an army or merely a security detail; no idea of his purpose or how long he'd stay. Logan had been on it as soon as she'd told him and confirmed Lydecker's whereabouts – how he did so she still didn't know, but if anyone could track the beast she believed Logan could – and he'd immediately started pestering her to leave town for a while, to lay low until he could discover Lydecker's plan. It was part of the reason she was so pissy; she knew she ought to take his advice but couldn't leave when she didn't know what was up – or when Logan might be putting himself square in Lydecker's sights by poking around to see what he had in mind.

She'd seen him when she turned onto Jam Pony's street, the bulky, black SUV gleaming too cleanly amid the otherwise squalid surroundings. Seeing it now gave her a chill beyond any the rain could have brought: Lydecker was ready to reveal his purpose; he would never have come to her like this if he was not. Max watched him emerge from the vehicle as she rode up and stopped at Jam Pony's entrance, up on the sidewalk, finding a vague sense of strength with the familiar brick of her daily home base at her back. _What a whack reaction is that?_ she thought irrationally, working to keep her attitude in place as she forced him to cross the street and come to _her._

And without preamble or greeting, he'd laid it all out – or laid out what he wanted her to believe. "You kids have been on your own for a decade now, 452, and even if we brought you in, what Psy-Ops would have to do to make any of you fit for our purpose would just as likely destroy what's valuable in you. At this point, Manticore is about ready to give up on the idea that we'll ever have you back."

Max didn't believe him for a moment. "With all that whining about how much time and money you spent developing us?" she spat. "And your own sad ego, that a handful of little kids got away from you and your elite squad of sadists?" She shook her head, hoping her angry outburst would cover the irrational fear gnawing at her of what all this meant. "Manticore doesn't want us, so you go buy a busted up factory just outside of town, just for kicks. Try the other leg, Deck."

He was unflappable, speaking again as if she'd said nothing, even affecting a little smile. Her stomach clutched to see it. "It's always important to see how a project can develop, outside of the lab, and to compare the group exposed to the elements to those kept inside, in a controlled environment. Over the years, at least from a distance, we've been able to track how you've each differed from the X-5s still with us."

Max felt a shift in her universe at his words – while still unwilling to put form to it, or any trust in its truth, she'd heard him suggest oh, so subtly, that their successful escape might not have been altogether _their_ idea...

"At this point, I think we'd learn quite a lot from getting a closer look at your skills, and what's resulted from your living out in the world, hiding from Manticore, scraping by without a traceable history, living close to ground. So, you come in for a couple days, go though some physical and mental testing, and you take off. You won't see us again."

"Free to stroll out the front door? Without at least futzing with my genes or my head?" Max snorted, hoping for a steady response. "Now why don't I believe you?"

"It's a trade. A simple trade," he said smoothly, carefully avoiding her allegations and catching her attention with the sudden shift of his terms. "No strings; you just come in, let us do some testing, a debriefing, and you're done."

Max's retort was cocky, sounding far more confident than she felt. "And just what would you have that would be worth a trade like that?"

"We might not be able to round up all of you kids now – we made you too strong, trained you too well. And it appears that the ten years away from Manticore have convinced you that you want to remain outside." Lydecker seemed to suddenly wax philosophical, staring off into the past as his voice took on a conversational tone, maybe even a bit of pride there as well. "Of course, had you learned everything we taught you," he couldn't resist a dig, in the circumstances as he'd now arranged them, "you wouldn't be here begging for the return of some civilian who, had you paid attention, should have meant nothing to you." With a dramatic flair, Lydecker let his eyes sweep the room. "When was the last time you saw that friend of yours, the one you spend so much time with at that broken-down bar? 'Original' ...what? Original _Cindy_?" He watched as Max turned in sudden fear, scanning the room now too, not seeing her there. She turned back to Lydecker accusatively. Before she could speak, he added smoothly, in oily satisfaction, "more interested in a trade now?"

Max started at him silently, far too aware of Manticore's resources and complete lack of morality to have any credible come-back – or not to immediately believe that he really held her friend. Without a word to Lydecker, she turned and pounded over to Normal, fearing the worst. "Normal? Where's Cindy?"

"That's a good question. Where the fire truck is..." he yelled to the room.

"When did she leave on her last run, Normal?" Max interrupted, grabbing his clipboard, and the dispatcher looked back at her, surprised at her intensity and his words died. "She's late, isn't she?" Max pressed as she scanned the list.

He nodded, clearly a bit worried now himself seeing that her friend was as unaware of Cindy's whereabouts as he was, and said flatly, "about two hours."

"And you didn't say...?" Max stared at him accusatively for a tense moment before she slammed the clipboard down and stormed back up to face Lydecker, her anger, hatred – and fear – flashing in her eyes.

"You don't exactly have much choice, do you?" Lydecker offered as Max faced him again.

"Why am I supposed to believe you actually have her – or that you haven't already hurt her?"

Lydecker felt a tiny bit of admiration that she hadn't indulged in empty threats to take him out, to pay them back. _No, she remembers her training far too well to think that we won't use the woman in any way necessary to bring her back. _He pulled two items out of his jacket, and handed her the first – a cell phone – Original Cindy's, in fact, with Cindy's image glowing ominously from a grainy picture on its screen as she sat in a small, bare room, appearing to be uninjured, but not moving, either. Once he'd seen Max register that, Lydecker handed her Cindy's riding gloves – and watched as she recognized them as the ones Cindy had with her that morning.

Max's retort was hot and immediate. "Original Cindy's a civilian; she doesn't know that this is part of the game." Somewhere, beyond her initial fear for Cindy, Max knew that her words would mean nothing to him, but she had to try. "She's my _friend,_" she added, "and a much better person than you could ever hope of knowing..."

Lydecker's admiration of moments before died immediately. He countered, "and now you understand my point, 452, when I taught you kids that sloppy emotional reactions can get you killed."

"Or give us something like a normal life – something you tried like hell to keep from us!"

Lydecker's face took on an expression that had crossed the face of every disappointed father at one time or another. "No good comeback, so you try a pointless, maudlin appeal? It does nothing but tell the enemy they were right about finding your Achilles Heel, soldier." _Disappointing, but not surprising, that someone who had left him so young wouldn't have avoided the dangers of a home ... friends._ As he made a mental note to reinforce the avoidance of that error in his training regime with the soldiers he had now, Lydecker saw that his point had hit home, and let it sink in further for another moment before he spoke again, drawing a long-suffering, pedantic breath to lecture, "I suppose _this_ is the sort of life you were hoping for – riding for a messenger service... getting your friends abducted..."

In the next moment, Lydecker found himself several inches off the ground, back flattened against the brick wall, Max's arm across his throat. "If you've even wrinkled her clothes..." Max hissed. She showed no sign of backing down or of loosening her hold as the four figures jumped from the back of the SUV, until she noted Lydecker's brief hand signal directing them back. At that, she felt a momentary burn in her throat, knowing that the man who had trained her saw through her and recognized her purpose: _if I'd have wanted him dead, it would have happened before he was aware he'd been touched ... and who knows that better than he does? _

"If you want to see her again, back here, with your other 'friends...'" he lingered over the moment, feeling the warmth of the win when Max released him abruptly. He managed to land on his feet, trying not to enjoy his power over her but feeling some satisfaction that he'd found a way to get 452 to walk back into Manticore, under her own power, while making his point that she should have listened to him, all those years ago. "...all you need to do is to come back. Temporarily."

"I'll think about it." She growled.

"Think? Did I say this was an open-ended invitation?" Lydecker's anger flared quickly, revealing his own demons, patience too frayed to hold this long. _The longer she has to think, the more likely it is she comes up with a plan. She won't escape me this time._ "You want her back here, come with me now."

"I can't..." Max said immediately. "Tomorrow. I'll be there," she relented, "but I have some things to wrap up..."

"You're there by oh-eighteen hundred hours or we dispose of your friend. After all," he let his eyes flicker around the room, making his point, "you have plenty others." Lydecker stepped back to leave, nodding toward Normal, who was trying not to watch what was going on in his entryway. "That should give you ample time to make your excuses to your employer for the both of you." Lydecker turned and started back toward the SUV, a hard, cold satisfaction spreading across his features.

"Where do you want me?" Max called behind him.

That stopped him, and he turned. "You're trying to tell me you don't know exactly where the facility is, outside of town?" With a smirk, he turned back to the SUV and, as he strode toward it, called over his shoulder, dismissively, "You're one of the reasons we took over that old factory, 452, your being here in Seattle – we decided if you were so fond of the place, there must be something to it."

It took all of Max's strength not to follow him, to jump him and pummel him senseless, not only for herself and her siblings, but now, for her other sister, Original Cindy. _Cindy has done nothing to deserve this,_ she berated herself, _nothing but be your friend, be there for you through everything, and because of it, she's thrown into a Lydecker-designed hell..._

He'd been right; she knew damn well where they'd set up shop there in town. It had haunted her daily since she'd found them, certain Lydecker was here in her backyard solely because of her. It was all just a question of when he would come for her. It had made her crazy, made her ride out there to look the place over, several times, uncertain how close she could go safely but anxious to see if she could discover what he had in mind...

_It was __**this**?_

Without another word to Normal she picked up her bike, frustrated beyond all sense that she'd left her Ninja at home, knowing she could easily pedal the distance to the abandoned factory they'd taken over but knowing that for a fast escape, Cindy in tow, she'd need more. Even as she watched the SUV drive away, she stood rooted, not moving, at a loss to know how to play this right.

_He came to tell you he had a trap set for you, and where, and who he had as his bait. He made sure you knew he'd found your weakness and exploited it, a weakness he'd told you to avoid. He made sure that not only would you come to the rescue, but that you'd come crawling back to him, to Manticore, and admit that he'd been right all along... _

She hadn't dared get close enough to the facility to see how many he had there with him, their security system or internal set-up. Lydecker had to know that; he would have had surveillance cameras or motion detectors, other apparatus to track her had she come close enough to get that kind of intel. With Lydecker waiting for her, she couldn't get that information now, unseen – and they each knew the other would be keenly aware of that, too. He'd be watching for her now and spot her as soon as she got within a mile of the place.

_Go in with such little information, no way could you successfully find Cindy and get her out, without risking her – not with him expecting you, with him backed by his own little troop of X-5s or 6s or whatever batch he has now ... _

She shook herself angrily, sharply. _So deal! _She tried to cut through the fear. _Cindy needs you and it's your fault she's in this. You know where she is and have an idea of the odds. Lydecker knows your strengths and has set things up to make it damn near impossible to use your strengths to handle this._

_...so what strengths do you have that Lydecker wouldn't know to expect?_

At her first thought in response, she took one last look at the speeding SUV, as it rounded the corner out of her line of sight, and, fighting the urge to just follow and fight her way to her friend, jumped on her bike and took the streets quickly, purposefully. She was only bare minutes away from Sector Nine...

_...to be continued..._


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: Dark Angel borrowed; as always, no profits realized.  
**

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_**Christmas in July Challenge: Gift for Insane Troll Logic**_

Please see Chapter 1 A/N to see the Challenge assigning this story and the requests made by ITL inspiring it.

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_**AS SIMPLE AS THAT**_

_Chapter 2_

Logan hadn't been up long; he'd only just poured his first cup from his first morning pot of coffee and had opened only a couple files when he heard his door open, and his rather sophisticated security system circumvented faster than he remembered ever hearing it cracked. A heartbeat later Max appeared, and the momentary feeling of pleased surprise Logan felt at the visit was chilled by the look of anguish he saw on her face. She spoke before he had a chance to say anything.

"Logan, I need your help," she said in a rush.

The words admitting she needed _anyone's_ help were as unexpected as they were hard for Max to say, and Logan blinked, sensing the worst. "Max, whatever you need," he promised, refusing to succumb to his own fear that this was it, finally, the nightmare they each hoped would never come, the day she would have to leave Seattle – leave _him_. "What happened?"

"Lydecker." She said simply, knowing that name alone would tell him how ominous this was. She drew a breath to organize her thoughts, not used to feeling so powerless, and hating the disorganized, panicky sense it left in her. "He's taken Original Cindy hostage and is holding her out at that old factory where they've set up."

Logan watched her closely, swallowing what he dreaded would come next.

"If I don't turn myself over to him, he's going to kill her." Max felt another surge of guilt that Cindy was being held by the bastard only because of their friendship, but went on, "he set me up, Logan, he's built a trap full of security cameras and X series troopers, you know he has, and has Cindy right in the heart of it all to be sure I'd come." She paced, frustration tearing at her to act, to move, to shred Lydecker to pieces. "He's the one who trained me – and he knows how each of us was designed. He knows exactly what I can do and how I'd normally go in rescue a hostage. He's neutralized all my advantages. He's taken any hope of surprise away, and knows I can't do any recon without being made." She looked at him in desperation, the pain in her eyes clear. "Logan, you know what I can do, too, almost as well as he does, and he _doesn't_ know you or how _you_ think. Tell me what I can I do that he won't expect," she implored him.

"Max..." he began, "you know better than I do that if you walk in there, no matter how, if he finds you there he'll make damn certain you never walk out."

She wouldn't let herself register the expression she saw on his face, the fear for her, maybe even a look of surrender to Lydecker's power? "Logan, don't tell me to bail!" Her response was angry and immediate. "I got her into this and I'm damn well not leaving her there. I'd rather go back with them than to leave her two minutes more with him..."

"You can't give yourself up, not even for Cindy. We'll find another way," he stalled. _But __**how?**_ his thoughts scrambled for ideas. _Lydecker sets himself up in a fortress, surveillance and X-5s all around, out in the middle of nowhere with open space as a wide perimeter – the perfect set-up to prevent her from a covert entry ... Max is right; a perfect way to neutralize all her strengths..._

"Logan, don't you get it?" She was pacing again. "They play God all the time, and would be as happy to kill her as have breakfast, with no better reason than they had nothing else to do. The first sign that I'm not there where they want me, when they want me, they kill her and come for the next person to hold as a hostage until they go through everyone at Jam Pony, then you, and Bling, and Matt, everyone I've ever met, everyone I've ever delivered to..." The dam had finally burst, and it occurred to Logan that if he didn't give her something soon, she would just bolt and try to rush the place singlehandedly. At least she'd some to him first, and if he could only think of something...

"Max..." He'd pushed away from the computer and turned to face her more fully now, daring to take her hand to make his point, seeking eye contact with her. Logan's voice, cool and grounded, penetrated her fear, and she felt herself shaking. _If anyone else had Cindy, I'd be focused and ready to take him on – or would be there already. How did Lydecker manage to put himself in the middle of all my worst memories and throw me like this?_ The fear was consuming her and Lydecker, damn, him, had beaten her again, telling her _I told you so _by what this was doing to her...

"Logan, it would be worth it..." She drew a breath, trying to beat the shakes and ground herself again, "all that Cindy's done for me... If he would let her go it would be worth it, and I'll find a way to get back. If I could do it when I was nine I can sure as hell do it now..."

"Max, we have a little time," Logan insisted. "I know you're scared for her, with good reason. But you know, too, that now more than anything, you need to think about things with a clear head, so we can get the best plan in mind." Logan assessed her, looking for her reaction. "Just hang on, alright? Lydecker's given you the afternoon – and you know he shouldn't have done that, right?" He looked deeply into her eyes, urged back her confidence. "He's as good as history." When he saw her make contact with him, her tension calming slightly, Logan urged, "you can give me an hour to start, and see what I can get together..."

"An hour?" She shook her head, remembering why she was there. "Logan, do you know how much hell he can put her through in an hour?"

But Logan had turned back to his computer, and, fingers dancing over the keyboard, hoping this would be enough to buy that first hour, within moments had a set of floor plans up on his screen, side screens scrolling overlays for power relays, back-up generators, environmental controls and communications relays... "Manticore," he said simply, nodding to the displays.

Even in her fear for Cindy, Max's eyes grew wide and she moved slowly toward the screen. "Logan ... how...?"

"Emergency planning." He started sending the images to his printer as he spoke. "When you found them here last month, I thought it would be a good idea to have as much info on them as we could get – you know, in case of emergency." He didn't have to add that he'd always feared it would be Max inside, and not one of her friends.

"How did you get all this? Are you sure this is the place? No way would Lydecker or any of them allow this to be available without fifty different layers of security..."

Logan nodded, "maybe not, if they knew about it. But they made the mistake of taking over an existing building. And they didn't count on dealing with a Seattle native who remembers when the factory went in, and the company that built it – _and_ where the original plans could be found, from when they had to be filed for approval with the zoning board. From there, just an update or two inferred from plans on file at the city's public works department..." He leaned over to pull out four floor plans from the printer and hand them to Max. "I think this will be close enough to give you an edge."

"You never said..." Any other time Max might have felt some frustration, even irritation, that Logan hadn't told her he had all this, but in the circumstances, she felt only overwhelming gratitude. Looking over the plans, she sat slowly in the chair beside his and nodded, the information helping her feel her focus returning, bit by bit. "Okay, so we know the layout..."

"And a bit more intel..." Another play along the keyboard, and a log of sorts popped up, schedules and personnel lists. "Here's an idea of what all they have out there. Not really all that much, considering. Either they are keeping the facility small, and below the radar, or they haven't gotten fully functional yet." He handed her the additional sheets. "Bling and I took a drive out there, not long after they moved in. Couldn't get too close, given its Manticore and all, but..." More data went to the printer, along with some photos. "We managed some long range shots of the place, and with some good, old fashioned patience ... and bribery ... filled in some blanks." He paused, and added, "from what we've seen so far, there might not be all that many out there with Lydecker, at least not yet. Bling's guess was that maybe he's doing this on his own, rather than on directions from his superiors. Even with the size of the factory it might be more its location and adaptability – and availability – than size that had him take this over. And..." His hands flew over the keyboard as the idea struck him, and he sent off a lightning fast e-mail to Sebastian. "I'll ask Sebastian to send out his guys, to get a fix on where they are, inside. We can hope that Lydecker and his crew haven't been there long enough to set up any shielding yet against heat detection equipment..."

Max's demeanor had been changing as she listened to all that he had to help, and now she nodded, her hopes buoyed somewhat with the addition of the information he'd provided. "I can get in with this, Logan ... in, then out again, with Cindy ..."

"No, Max – you were right, before. You can't just slip into Manticore, not alone, and not without the element of surprise. We have none of that now – Lydecker knows you're coming, one way or the other, and knows what you can do. No, somehow we have to even the odds..." His gaze was far away, clearly running though – and rejecting – several scenarios for how this could be played.

Max's response was terse, sarcastic – determined. "No other X-5s around Seattle to help out or I'd agree with you."

"No, but there might be some others around..." Logan thought for a moment, then picked up the phone, speaking as he dialed. "Bling can help out. What about Matt and the police?""

"Too slow. They'll kill her and hide any evidence that she was ever there as soon as they see the first patrol car. Matt's a clean cop and will play by the rules, like search warrants and rules of engagement – they can't compete with Manticore."

Their conversation was interrupted only for the moment it took for Logan to identify himself to Bling, and asked that he come over immediately to help with an emergency mission. Setting the phone back down, Logan was quiet, a sudden thought clearly working its way through his mind, his expression enough to keep even an agitated Max from speaking for the moment. She watched as his eyes narrowed, and he suddenly looked back up to her, an odd look his face. Mind still running the details, he asked, carefully, "What if we out them? Once and for all?"

Max started at him for a moment, processing what he'd just said, almost wondering if she'd heard wight before she shook her head, frowning, not getting it. "Not now, Logan; we have to get Original Cindy before –"

"No, Max– _to_ get her out." Logan looked at her, the challenge spinning in his head, finding far more upside than down, so far. "Think of how hard they've worked to stay off the radar, all these years. Everything I've found indicates they've hidden from _every_one – the regular military, Congress, even security agencies. They wouldn't be ready to give all that up just to get you back now, because Lydecker would figure he could try again, another day – he's done it before and would do it again. Certainly they wouldn't give it up everything just to hold onto Cindy, since she's there only as bait for you." He thought for another moment and went on, " No, if we had a way to throw them immediately from deep black to front page news, it would neutralize _them_." With yet another thought, his eyebrows lifted and it occurred to him, "and even if he's got an open perimeter without anything there as cover – _we_ create cover for you. It would be impossible to do anything to her or to you, if there was a crowd of reporters and civilians at their front door, watching." He shrugged, and offered, "maybe that's it, Max, something that might not occur to Lydecker -- after all the years of black ops and special forces and secret, covert missions, it would never occur to him that we'd get a whole lot of witnesses together – a hundred, maybe, too many for them to eliminate without leaving one hell of a trail – and just go up to ring the doorbell in broad daylight."

Max frowned, running the scenarios he painted, certain that there must be something missing in Logan's plan but not finding it. It was clearly more likely to get Cindy out of Manticore – and to keep _her_ out, too – than her jumping in response to Lydecker's set up, just as he wanted her to do. At least this did have the element of surprise, and would tread on the Colonel's near-phobia about being caught at his game. She remembered the extreme lengths to which Lydecker had gone in the past to keep anything related to Manticore a secret, even to the point of giving up on a near catch of her siblings ... of her. Whether it was only for the obvious reasons, or if there was even more they hadn't yet discovered, Max didn't know, but she couldn't deny that it was a weakness in his armor, if ever he had one. She nodded slowly, and looked back to Logan as he waited. "It's better than anything else we have." Before her hopes could be raised, however, one major stumbling block occurred to her. "But Logan – in only a few hours – how could we get everyone together like that?"

A slow, crafty smile began to spread across his features. "That, I think I can handle without too much problem. We've got til 6:00 P.M., and it's only 10:00 now? Nice of Lydecker to schedule your deadline with the prime time news hour." Logan's fingers danced over his computer keyboard, ordering up names and contacts from various lists and files, starting another document of notes and a schedule organizing them. In the next minute, however, his hands slowed, and he stopped to turn back to her. "Max, this would run the risk of outing you too, if he calls our bluff. Or if the media people there get wind of what Manticore is all about and tell the public -- they probably also learn that it produced living, breathing, engineered people out among them..."

"Small price to get Cindy back," Max said without hesitation, "and better than going back to Manticore permanently."

Logan nodded, thoughts still churning, as his eyes narrowed, now focused on Max. "What if you're just another face in the crowd? Someone else can make the demand. The whole crowd – police, news people, protestors – walks up to the gates and demands they release Cindy, all on camera, big as life. In fact," he dared to try, "I don't know that you have to be there at all..."

"Who would go in to get her?" Max wasn't buying it.

"At least a few people, a small group –I think we demand that someone with a news camera go in too, or have Lydecker explain to them and everyone else why they don't want to comply."

"I need to be there in case something goes sideways," she shook her head stubbornly. "She might need me."

"Okay," he nodded slowly, knowing he'd never win that fight, "but someone else can do the talking, so to anyone else out there in the crowd, you're just one of them."

Max fell silent again as the idea started taking shape in her mind. But Logan turned back to his computer, fingers once again calling up lists and numbers as he spoke. "And we don't wait til 6 – let's aim at ... 4:00. Plenty of time to entice the TV people that they can get their story in time for the evening news, and to surprise Lydecker a little that you didn't wait until the last minute. I have a few people I'll call who will bring their people out – you go to your apartment building, tell everyone to call everyone they know and meet at the highway exit at 4:00, so the mob can go in together, as one. Do the same thing at Jam Pony. I'll ask Bling to do the same at the hospital, and his apartment and here. I'll get out word on the 'net and with S1W..." He was typing up some text as he spoke, "and then will get Matt and the police warned about a non-violent protest, with a mob out at the factory, and I'll contact some people I know on the paper and with the network affiliates here." He hit the printer command again, and glanced up at her. "Anywhere else you know where you can get a group together?"

She blinked at how quickly his plan was taking shape, and shrugged, wondering if he truly would be able to coordinate all this to have the group he anticipated, without telling them why, all for a woman most of them wouldn't know. A sudden skepticism crept into her voice. "But what am I supposed to tell them, that I'm tried of being Manticore's pet project and need them to help kick Lydecker's ass?"

He grinned as he pulled the sheet from the printer and handed it to her. "Tell them the same sort of thing Eyes Only will be telling Seattle, when he goes on to get even more people to join the crowd out there."

Max looked down at the page, and saw, in her hand, with a map and other information to be broadcast to Seattle, the text of what aired several hours later as Eyes Only's hack, played just as the mob started their march on in toward the factory just outside town...

"_Do not attempt to adjust your set. This is a streaming freedom video bulletin. The cable hack will last exactly 60 seconds. It cannot be traced, it cannot be stopped and it is the only free voice left in the city. _

"_Several weeks ago, rumors began to surface that a secret government facility had been established on the outskirts of Seattle, housing a program designed for, among other things, more government power and control of its citizens, just when the Administration promised that it would bring government back to being for and by the people – not in spite of and against us. Until today, they were only rumors. But it's no rumor that at least one of Seattle's citizens has now been kidnapped and is now being held against her will. Will she be only the first of many? _

"_As word of this new outrage spread this morning, it has become clear that this would not be tolerated by the people who have had their fill of the government corruption handed us over the past decade. The leaders in our state and federal government are in office now because of election promises they made that they would shine a light on the corruption and abuses of the past. We cannot let any of those promises go unfulfilled._

"_In response to this new outrage, some of Seattle's citizens are there now, protesting this program. TV and print media are there, covering this protest. You, too, can make a difference. If you go to the old Yarrow factory, you and your neighbors, your friends, your partner – if enough of us go, Seattle, we can make a statement. We can free Cindy McEachin, whose only crime has been to be one of us, a citizen of Seattle. With all of us together, we are stronger than they are. Join us in showing them they cannot return to the days of secret police and crimeless detention. Join us in demonstrating that we are onto them and they will have witnesses, for whatever crimes they attempt to commit on innocent citizens. Join us in keeping Seattle on the path back to honesty and candor from our government. If it's not stopped now – we may be too late._

"_Peace. Out."_

**...to be continued...**


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: Dark Angel borrowed; as always, no profits realized.  
**

* * *

_**Christmas in July Challenge: Gift for Insane Troll Logic**_

Please see Chapter 1 A/N to see the Challenge assigning this story and the requests made by ITL inspiring it. Reviews welcome/craved/cherished.

* * *

_**AS SIMPLE AS THAT**_

_Chapter 3_

Logan sat behind the wheel of his Aztek, watching as the first wave of his "protestors" started walking forward toward the rusty, aging hurricane fence around the perimeter of the property, still the only "security" visible about the factory. _Sure hope that means they're either 'keeping a low profile' or just still too early to have much worth protecting,_ Logan stewed. From the place he'd parked, on the dusty road along the property's edge, he could watch the several knots of individuals start to merge together and form a long phalanx across the front of the old factory. Even this first group was sizeable, and he began to believe there were enough of them to give Lydecker pause: _too many of us here now to just eliminate witnesses_, Logan breathed in what he hoped wasn't too obvious relief.

They had rallied on the road as it first turned off the highway, far enough out from the facility that Bling and Logan had both been satisfied Lydecker didn't have any "eyes" out there to alert them. The plan was simple, they would wait until there were enough people gathered that they could go in as one mob of protesters, their number large enough to ensure they wouldn't be picked off one by one by Manticore snipers. Even better, as they waited, they'd been joined by a few easily-seen, painfully obvious television trucks which had appeared from a few calls Logan had made – and the moment the cyberjournalist saw the satellite truck lumbering down the road, he began to believe this all might just work: _even Lydecker knows what that means, that the cameras brought along by the people in that truck could be beaming every moment of unfolding events back to their studios for a blow-by-blow record of what was going down, the moment it happened..._

Even if they tried to destroy the truck first thing, the damage would have been done. _Nothing like trying to blind a media report to make reporters go from curious to demanding. Lydecker will know that any action they take now will just create more questions, more investigation, more chance that his super-secret project will be exposed..._

Along with the television trucks came print reporters and the political-activist groups Logan notified, like S1W; more individuals came, gathered by Bling and Max, from Jam Pony, Metro Medical and the off-hours clinic where Bling often volunteered, their apartment buildings, even Crash. The word had gotten out, and friend asked friend, neighbor asked neighbor; Logan began to understand that they had tapped into the perfect confluence of a population, now feeling a little braver at taking on the government by raising their voices in disapproval, suddenly provided with an outlet for their frustrations of the past, and granted the protection and anonymity of blending in a crowd...

Jam Pony messengers and their friends began to mingle with the public face of the S1W, hospital employees in their multi-color scrubs walked in alongside intense looking reporters who gathered quotes and opinions with hand-held tape recorders. Individuals he knew to be S1W activists who were not yet known to the police intermingled anonymously with the pairs and trios of individuals who had come because their sister or son or best friend had called and asked them to come along. He saw more than a dozen in a tightly clustered group whom he had to suspect might have come from Original Cindy's "gender-friendly" neighborhood. Logan caught sight of Sketchy, worried about his friend, saw some of the crowd from the hospital and clinic; he saw all the riders he knew from Jam Pony.

More than a hundred already, and as the mass began its forward march down the road onto the factory property, Logan realized that their group was already a formidable one. Despite the fact that any people who might come in response to his hack would only now be getting the message, and even if the hack brought no one else, this crowd could buy the protection Logan had counted on to make this work. _No matter what happens, it looks as if Lydecker will have some explaining to do..._

As the group began to spread out across the front of the factory, Logan saw, moving in slowly behind them, silently, the line of six police cruisers coming from the highway to join them, led by a battered blue sedan. To his relief, they fanned out to take up silent station in an arc behind the protestors as the officers, in riot gear, got out of their cruisers and merely stood by, to watch...

...to_ witness._

_Way to go, Matt._

Logan sighed his relief as he saw Matt Sung get out of the lead car and walk to the edge of the crowd, calmly talking with one or two of the reporters. One, then two, of the television cameras swung his way and Matt spoke briefly to the reporters at their sides.

_What the hell must Lydecker be doing?_ Logan began to wonder. _Even if he's not in there himself, they sure as hell couldn't have missed this bunch by now, and will have alerted him that they're being invaded..._

His phone jangled. "Yeah," he said tersely. Bling, in the passenger seat, looked over to him, expectantly. He saw Logan's face lighten a little as he nodded. "Good. What did your people find out?" There was another pause and Logan nodded again, eyebrows rising, and he cradled his phone at his ear as he quickly called up information on his lap top. "Okay, got it. Thanks – I owe you." He cut the call and, glancing quickly to Bling as he finished typing, he turned the laptop so they both could look at the screen. "Sebastian's guys read only a half dozen or so of them inside. There's a figure here," he pointed, "that they think may be Cindy, as all the others have been moving around that room and that form, over the past four hours, but this one's been stationary. And all of them have been limited to this area of the plant." Logan sorted through a series of infrared images sent by Sebastian, taken from his operatives' sensor equipment though the day. He paused, and looked up at his friend to add, "he said the hack went off as scheduled."

Bling nodded. "Good." He surveyed the mass of participants already there, and repeated Logan's thoughts back to him. "You've got a pretty big crowd now, even if no one else comes out. Looks as if your plan went off even better than you'd hoped."

Logan snorted softly. "Well, the Cales were always known for being able to throw a good party." Bling could see that he was still worried that they would be able to get Cindy out and neutralize Lydecker and Manticore, at least for a time, without endangering Max even more than she'd been until now. As he started up the Aztek and drove in closer to the perimeter, Logan too considered the mob before him and agreed, "looks as if we hit a nerve with a lot of people. Too bad we didn't think to do this before."

"No real opportunity." _Only Logan would be finding the downside of a mission going well_, Bling mused. _At least he knows better than to let his guard down._ He considered the man behind the wheel as he pulled up and cut the engine. Logan turned to close his laptop and stash it in his bag, ready to join the fight. Bling gave it one more try. "Interested in just staying put and watching from the car?"

He expected the rolled eyes, and could practically repeat the words with Logan's retort. "No, but feel free to wait right here. I'm here to get a story – just like all those other guys over there at the satellite truck."

The trainer gazed back over the group as they neared the fence, and he saw, from among the S1W activists, a lithe, dark figure as she passed along the barrier to pause briefly at the gate. As she blended back in with the others, and the crowd shifted, there was a small, surging turn in the crowd and the gathering mass of people found its way inside as the gate now swung open...

Bling glanced over to Logan and saw that Max's efforts had been caught by him as well.

With that, Logan turned to open his door and reach for his chair. As he did, Bling opened his door to get out as well, and the first wave of chanting hit them as it began to rise from the crowd.

"_Free Cindy McEachin! Free Original Cindy!_"

_xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox_

Max had spent the day finding as many people as she could to join them out at the old factory, her mad peddling to criss-cross through the city only barely taking the edge off her adrenaline-fired worry for her friend. She'd gone to Jam Pony first, then to her apartment building, then Crash and South Market, and had stopped to see several of Jam Pony's regular customers where Cindy was a familiar, welcome face. She even went to Fogle Towers and back over to Cindy's former apartment building. From there, Max dashed over to the market across the street and a couple of the gender-bender bars in the neighborhood, where she decided to suggest that the government might just be picking on Original Cindy because she preferred the "all-girl team." 

At 3:10 she checked in again with Logan, who gave her an address where she could meet some of the S1W activists who would not only help fill the ranks, but would send some of their more recognized members out on the front lines. "They'll guarantee TV coverage," Logan had told her, hope infusing his words. "The local press knows that S1W is just daring enough to try extreme or unusual acts to make their point. The TV cameras will scramble to get them on film, in case they pull something that will get viewers to watch."

By 3:22 she was knocking at a battered wooden door out by the docks. The door was opened by a an attractive blonde, who looked her up and down once before she opened the door wider and threw a silent glance over shoulder. Max saw a man behind her catch the glance and return a quick nod to the woman before meeting her eyes. "Come in," the man said heartily. Max realized she'd seen the man's face before, on news clips and wanted posters."I'm Lief. You're Logan's friend," he smiled easily, offering a hand. "You wanted to come along with us?"

"Max," she responded. "Yes – I'd rather not stick out alone if I can help it."

He nodded. "We've all been there. We have four groups of those who are going in, but aren't ready to be made by the cops as S1W just yet. My sister Asha here will be taking one of the groups. She can hook you up with what signals and safety points we're arranged, in case things get ugly." Lief nodded back toward the silent blonde.

Max glanced back at the woman behind her, whose neutral gaze met hers, giving away nothing. She looked back to Lief. "Thanks," she nodded, and then, deciding to say more, added, "and ... thank you ... for getting your people involved. These bastards would filet their own grandmothers if they thought their mission needed it ... and no matter what else we might be preventing them from doing here in Seattle – Original Cindy is my best friend." Max said simply. "She won't be released unless we demand it."

Lief nodded soberly, and his wise eyes looked into Max's. "Eyes Only has been a good friend to S1W for a good while now, and Logan has been instrumental in a lot of the work we've been able to do with Eyes Only's help. If he says it's important, that's enough for us." Lief turned to the two men at the table with him, and Max realized that they too looked somewhat familiar. At a silent signal, each man stood and set about packing their things to leave. "Look – I understand that there may be a request to let a few go in, to get your friend. Logan said you're going to insist that you go in, too. If you do, I'm going with you." She didn't have a chance to voice an protest before he went on, "if I go, we ensure some TV flunkie with a camera comes along, too. The advantage of being seen as a wild-eyed reactionary," he smiled, his look bittersweet. "I have a following; they use me to hype their broadcasts, and their advertisers think more consumers are watching. Even grandmother-fileting bastards don't like being caught on tape while they're doing it."

Max nodded, appreciating the point, especially as it was one more thing that she hadn't considered – which might mean Lydecker hadn't, either. She nodded again, words failing her.

"Go on with Asha." Lief said. "She'll make sure you get there and have a safe exit, if it's needed."

Max nodded and as Lief started packing his own things, she turned to Asha. Finally, the woman offered her a soft smile as she spoke. "C'mon, Max – we need to get going."

_**...TBC...**_


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: Dark Angel borrowed; as always, no profits realized. **

_**Christmas in July Challenge: Gift for Insane Troll Logic**_

**A/N: **Please see Chapter 1 A/N to see the Challenge assigning this story and the requests made by ITL inspiring it.

**(Sorry to be delayed in moving this along... **at the rate I'm going, by the time I get this done, Christmas in July will be ... er ... _Christmas._ Or nearly. RL is a wicked stepmother sometimes...)

_**AS SIMPLE AS THAT**_

_Chapter 4_

_The downside of leaving the car is leaving the vantage point it provided,_ Logan grimaced to himself as he pushed along the hard, grassy ground, Bling walking silently at his side. Since his arrival, Logan had been able to keep an eye on Max, even as she folded herself in and around the others in the crowd, always able to find her again as she moved along near the pale-haired Asha...

At least he had until he got out of the car and lost the height he had from the road and the Aztek's higher seat. Now all he saw, as he made his way toward the TV trucks where the media people were gathered, were the backs and shoulders of the nearest wall of activists. He shook off the frustration of not being able to track Max's movements now, reminding himself that not only was she able to watch out for herself, but she was in good hands with the S1W and even Matt's officers on hand, to counteract anything Lydecker might try. He would have to trust that it was enough...

The crowd was still building as a few more cars and trucks arrived, disgorging crowds of pumped up protestors, feeding the energy of those already there. So far, the chanting and movement was insistent but optimistic, as if they were calling for a rock star to come on stage. _That won't last_, Logan knew; they would need to move fairly soon or risk the crowd taking over. . _At least Lief knows that too, and since he's volunteered to lead the group inside, he's in the best position to know when to make that move..._

As they neared the trucks, they neared a noisy contingent of women, chanting and waving placards with messages making it apparent that they thought Cindy had been taken as a part of government conspiracy to eradicate the planet of lesbians. At the sound of Bling's chuckle, Logan glanced up to see his trainer grinning in satisfaction as he waved to one of the women. Suspicious, Logan tried, "you knew they were coming – what made them think they're out to get lesbians?"

Bling shrugged, his grin devilish. "Suppose they heard that in Eyes Only's hack?"

Logan's mouth opened a little in his surprise, and he protested, low, for only Bling's ears, "but I was really careful not to say anything that wasn't actually _true_ – Manticore was designing personnel not only for combat, but power over everyone, a private police squad. And there was nothing about lesbians or any one group..."

Bling shrugged, clearly pleased that his 'suggestion' to Rosaria, a colleague at the hospital and one of the currently more vocal women at the head of the group, had been so successful. "Good thing that I wasn't doing an Eyes Only hack, then, just... speculating ... about what was meant," he smirked. "I suppose just as effective might be someone who knew someone with that particular hot button..."

_At least their enthusiasm and noise is still positive_, Logan noted. _Nothing will be accomplished if it just turns ugly and the cops just start busting heads..._ He finally conceded, "everyone hears what they want to hear from a hack like that, anyway. Even the cops." he nodded toward them.

Logan had also kept an eye on the police presence, far less concerned once he saw that Matt had arrived, too, even though he was flanked by more than a dozen line officers in riot gear. _Probably better to have them here for some crowd control,_ he admitted to himself, and they'd be more ready to react to an attack by Lydecker's people. Even if they were badly mismatched, a response from them might give Max just the extra moment or two to slip away unscathed...

Just as Logan reached the media trucks and the open view they established at one end of the perimeter, he heard a sudden roar from the crowd and his eyes snapped toward the old factory. Two soldiers had taken position on the steps, their rifles prominent, and Lydecker himself now strode out onto the entry's top step. Whatever he was trying to yell to the crowd was immediately drowned out in their response. Logan strained to look through the crowd now for a sign of Lief and the others, hoping they would confront Lydecker quickly and get inside before the crowd decided to take matters into their own hands. "Bling! Do you see Lief or any of the S1W leaders?"

"Not yet, but..."

Bling's words died as both he and Logan saw a shift in the line of police, who until now had merely held position after they'd fanned out along the edges of the growing crowd. The officers started to close in, curling around the far edges of the mass of people now straining forward near the entry, and as they brought their own weapons forward in a more ready position, Matt stepped forward in front of them all, and with his back Lydecker, yelled toward the crowd through a bullhorn.

"Everyone – stand back. We don't want anyone hurt--"

Logan frowned at Matt's sudden intrusion, not getting it. He'd known Matt far too long to suspect a double-cross, but Matt _knew_ about their plan, and this was clearly a pre-emptive move to prevent them from getting inside – _wasn't it?_ Hurriedly, Logan started running through ideas to regroup when a pissed off, nervous Max suddenly crouched at Logan's side.

"What the hell is he doing?" she demanded, in a low hiss.

"I don't know; he knew we were going to try and go in..." Logan saw the anxiety thrumming steadily through her now, and he stalled, "he has to think he's found a better way..."

"I'm going in..." she started to rise again, and Logan's hand shot out quickly to her arm to stop her.

"Just give him a minute," he urged, and felt a lurch in his stomach as he saw the detective turn and walk, alone, up the steps to face Lydecker, unfazed by the crowd or the two soldiers with their rifles now trained on him. At least Max had frozen in place, the unfolding events enough to make her wait. Logan fought to tune out the calls and rumblings all around him and focus on the two men, many yards away, as did Max, who, alone in the crowd, was actually able to hear the two as they spoke...

Matt's attitude was professional and unhurried as he sized up Lydecker. "So what is all this, Mr...?"

"_Colonel."_ Lydecker corrected

"Colonel," Matt repeated with a faint nod, noting the man's unwillingness to offer a name. "Are they right?" he asked, tipping his chin briefly toward the throng. "Do you have a girl in there you're holding against her will?"

"Son, this is a restricted area," Lydecker's words were a sneer. " None of this crowd, not even you, has the authority to be here and..."

Matt interrupted, "the Seattle PD has no record of there being a government facility on this site, 'Colonel.' The papers filed last month with the land purchase, pursuant to local zoning regs, list this as a manufacturing plant for computer hardware. Now – would you like to show me your product line?"

Lydecker's eyes narrowed, immediately, reassessing Matt quickly, and countered, "Trade secrets. And you're on private property."

Matt nodded, and said, evenly, "You might want to make up your mind – decide whether this is government property or private. We have authority to search private property when we have probable cause to believe a felony or felonies have been committed, especially when they are still in the process of being committed on site," Matt's demeanor shifted, ever so slightly, to reveal a steel equal to Lydecker's, "and the federal prosecutor's office has provided us the same authority for Class A government facilities. Now, if you want to try for _covert_ activity protection from a lawful search, you can, but even covert has to be listed with the Seattle PD under a special code. Check with your superiors if you don't believe me. And this site, _Colonel,_ is not so listed."

Lydecker gave almost nothing away, but the little twitch in his jaw had always been a weakness of his. Across the grassy yard, Max's breath caught in sudden hope...

"Why don't you just leave, and take all of this human waste with you?" Lydecker's face took on a sudden, vicious smile as his words snarled vitriol. "No harm, no foul..."

"...no deal," Matt finished smoothly. "Looks like this is another case of 'the one with the most toys wins.' And at this particular moment – whether it's 'human waste,' or curious TV reporters, or even some dirty little secret in there you need to keep hidden from us poor dumb taxpayers – I seem to have the most toys. And it just so happens that Original Cindy is a friend of mine." Matt's cold smile grew slowly with his words. "So do you want to let some of these people inside to get her, or will you just bring her out here yourself?"

From where he sat, Logan could make out some of the facial expressions on the men, but could hear nothing of their conversation – Matt seemed unflappable, and Lydecker didn't look any happier as their conversation went on. Logan glanced to Max for a sign that she could hear them. Moments ago she had reacted, but just that once, and she hadn't said or done anything since. Now, though, Logan noted with some surprise that her face had lightened, slightly, her eyebrows raising in hope and surprise. Her lips parted as if to speak, but frozen as she waited, anticipating more.

Movement on the steps brought his full attention back to the men at the factory entry and Logan saw that Lydecker had suddenly turned to bark an order at the pair of guards behind him. One then disappeared inside. At that, Max turned to him suddenly, and she smiled in disbelief and nodded quickly, almost too subtly to be seen, and, without more, dashed off back into the crowd. Logan blinked, uncertain, but trusting that if Max was satisfied, Matt had gotten them over some hurdle. He relaxed a little, not sure what was coming next, but sensing that Mat might have made things a little easier for them.

It turned out that was an understatement.

It was almost anti-climatic: Matt stood by as they waited, in his professional mien not showing his own mistrust that things would be this easy. _The more readily he gives up Cindy, the more he has to hide in there. What the hell are they up to?_ he found himself wondering. _Another matter of Cindy being involved, again as a means to an end, with Max as the target ... Another shadowy, ultra-military outfit sniffing around Seattle with an unhealthy interest in Max? I sure hope Logan knows what he's doing, letting Max get so close ... the man's so smitten with her, can he even see straight, when it comes to Max? _

Matt's hope for Logan's wisdom became stronger when, as simple as that, the soldier appeared with Cindy, who was wobbly, but moving more under her own power than not...

She clearly had no idea about what was going on; the apprehensive look on her face as she was shoved outside shifted first to confusion at the wall of noise that went up at her appearance, and then to relief and sheer joy at seeing Matt's familiar face. "Oh, sugah, Original Cindy has never been so happy to see the po-po in her _life_," she beamed, crossing straight over to him where he caught her in a one-armed hug of reassurance and physical support, still keeping his eye on Lydecker.

"Let's get you out of here," he smiled, and started to walk her toward the steps.

"Hold up just one minute," Cindy stopped, and, taking a deep breath, crossed the few feet back between her and Lydecker to face the Colonel dead on, her own eyes seething in anger at him, her voice deadly calm. "I guess I was wrong, Don – you _did_ let me just stroll out the front door." Matt could only wonder at what could have been said between the two since her capture. "And Original Cindy appreciates all you've done for _her_, too, now, as well as for Max." She wavered another moment to let her point sink in, then, turning her back on him in dismissal, returned to Matt for his arm. Without more, they walked down the steps...

As if choreographed, one of the officers broke out of the line to meet Cindy and Matt, and quickly whisked Cindy into a waiting patrol car, ready to get on the road back to town before the crush of people slowed their progress. As Cindy disappeared with the officer, Matt turned back to the crowd, especially toward the reporters, and suggested, "Ms. McEachin will be fine – everything is over for today. Let's leave them now, folks; they said this is private property..."

"You can't let them get away with kidnapping!" A voice called.

"_Is_ it over? Or is this a government facility like they said?" Another yelled.

One of the TV reporters, microphone extended toward Lydecker, walked toward the steps. "Sir, are you in charge out here?' Matt gently stopped his progress – but only after he made it to the bottom step. With a wry smile, Matt stood back to watch for the moment, unconcerned now about the growing insistence in the crowd around him.

More voices added to the questions pummeling Lydecker: "Is it true she didn't do anything? Why were you holding her?"

"Are you CIA? FBI? NSA?"

Matt turned away from Lydecker and, half smiling to himself, walked away, back toward his men.

"How do we know there aren't others inside? What are you doing to people in there?" Someone insisted.

Along with the other media people, Logan had moved forward toward the steps, his movement more in fascination with what was happening than anything else. Max had worked her way back into the relative anonymity she'd found with the small band of S1W to watch Cindy's rescue. But just as she'd been ready to follow her friend back to town she saw Logan moving closer in, defying the beast. _Damn it, Logan, what are you doing?_ her thoughts yelled at him. _Cindy's out! Why are you running back into a burning building?_

Max stared at Logan as he stared at Lydecker, the Colonel silently scanning the crowd, making no move to respond to its demands for answers. Suddenly, his eyes lighting in recognition, Lydecker found Logan in the crowd. Unseen by either man as their eyes met, each staring back at the other defiantly, Max watched the stand-off as a new thread of nervousness grew. She shifted to move a little further behind two S1W members adding their voices to the crowd. _Logan, don't go neanderthal on me! Playing 'chicken' with Lydecker is about as stupid a thing as you could do right now... _

Lydecker now seemed to ignore all the others around them as his look stayed fixed on Logan, clearly believing he'd found the instigator for this mob attack on Manticore. In response, Logan's stare bore into Lydecker's. As the voices around them became more insistent, Lydecker's gaze finally flickered, and he involuntarily glanced at the throng of angry civilians, wanting a response. As Lydecker looked back to Logan, Max saw Logan's expression shift slightly and, with an intensity commanding enough to rival any Max had seen from Lydecker himself, she saw Logan lift an eyebrow and mouth silently to the Colonel, "No comment."

There was only the barest hesitation before Lydecker spoke. "No comment," the Colonel announced to the waiting crowd. "A statement will be released in the morning."

Matt, now also watching Logan, from the police line, took his cue from there. "You heard the man, people," he announced again with his bullhorn. "Ms. McEachin was released, now let's leave the property. The Commissioner and DA's office have already begun their investigation into this facility, and I promise you all there _will_ be oversight if this facility plans to continue its operation here in Seattle." With his words, the line of police subtly and skillfully began moving toward the crowd, gently pressing them back, as the S1W activists fell away on their own, and the other more militant protestors took their cue from them.

Max's eyes widened as she barely noted the flurry of questions and goads for information that followed Matt's announcement, mainly those of the press sensing their time on the scene was ending. _Why didn't we think of this before?_ she marveled, _just go up to the schoolyard bully and call him on it?_ Admittedly, she was nearly as surprised to see Logan let Lydecker squirm out of it, _help_ him out of it, even, when without much more prodding, the group would have been ready to tar and feather the bastard...

Max glared at Logan from across the grounds, willing him to turn her way, knowing he'd be wondering where she was, now that things were over. Just as she predicted, Logan had begun fading back through the crowd of media types as they were gently herded toward the back gates, and had turned toward where he'd last seen her, scanning the crowd. With a small shift in position she came around to the other side of a small knot of people, where he saw her and made his way over. Logan had seen Max's eyes burning in question, almost accusative, and he grimaced. _She saw me tell Lydecker to back off, _he reflected._ Bet she's pretty pissed I helped him bail_.

Max waited for Logan come back to the edge of the crowd, still amazed at what he'd been able to pull off so readily, but made crazy to know why he let Lydecker skate, once he'd arranged everything to out him once and for all. _There's no one I trust more than I do this man, _she reminded herself as he approached._ But oh, Logan, you'd better have a good reason for this one..._

To her surprise, Logan merely smiled privately, for her, and nodded her toward the road, speaking immediately. "Max, get on out of here while it's still disorganized. Matt's guys already have Cindy on her way back to town and away from all the reporters. I bet if you head to Matt's precinct you can pick Cindy up there – or get one of the officers to drive her home if she's not up for a ride on your bike. I'm going to find Matt and let him know you'll be there."

"Logan –" She blinked, remembering everything Logan had just accomplished – and _why._ Even with what he'd just done, she felt some sudden guilt for doubting him and a big rush of pride for how readily he'd beaten Lydecker. Still hoping he'd be able to explain his actions that would somehow make sense, for now, she relaxed into an honest smile of gratitude. "Thank you."

"Go on Max," he urged. " I'll see you later."

"You're okay out here?"

He finally smiled, and shrugged, "I've got Bling, Matt, S1W, all the media people I still talk to on occasion ... yeah, I'll manage."

She considered him for a moment before, with a final nod, she sprinted off silently toward her bike, hidden off the road. Logan watched her for only a moment, until she disappeared into the surrounding bushes and other vegetation left to help obscure the view of the facility. Losing no time, he pivoted to cross back toward the police vehicles, hoping to catch Matt, now away from the media types, before he and the others headed back. Logan saw Matt talking to the senior line officer as they continued to unobtrusively herd the now-disbursing crowd toward the gate and the road, and he deftly came around the long way, behind a couple of the larger TV trucks, so his approaching Sung wouldn't be quite so obvious to all those with cameras and a hunger for more information.

Matt had turned to head out toward his own vehicle. "Matt!" Logan called, pushing hard behind him to match the man's quick stride.

As Sung heard the familiar voice, he turned, and smiled easily, as if it had been a Little League game or a cook-out, and not a face off with a secret government kidnapper. "Hey, Logan," he offered.

"Matt, look, I ..." Logan offered his hand, still so taken with this friend's ready save he wasn't quite ready with his usual glib response. "... thank you. With everything going on, here – well, it was perfect, what you did."

"Negotiation skills 101. Part of the job," Sung minimized, but his eyes sparkled with the knowledge that he'd hit all the right buttons this time. It always felt good when things went smoothly.

"Yeah, but ... look, I've run into this guy before. He's the current poster boy for evil on earth. If you only knew how well you played this..." At Matt's shrug, still downplaying his success, Logan added, "all of your guys being here helped more than you know."

Matt grinned conspiratorially. "Actually, I owe you the thanks, for whatever this is – aligning the Seattle PD against the Feds, on the same side as the S1W, Eyes Only and all the rest of this crowd, just bought the Department more goodwill than we've had in a long time. For once we were seen as one of the good guys."

Logan looked surprised for a moment, but immediately saw Matt's point, and he slowly shifted into a grin. "Even better. But joining in isn't going to cause you problems downtown?"

"Logan, everyone above me in the chain of command, Commissioner on down, has been out in the line at one time or another. And anyone who's been a city cop for more than six months has had their toes stepped on by the Feds, cherry-picking cases, messing up a bust, stealing the credit – _something_. I suspect that the feelings toward our federal cousins will take the edge off any problem they might have with me."

Logan's grin settled in higher. "Glad to hear it. Thanks again, Matt," he offered, as Matt turned to move out with the rest of the police officers. Logan watched him leave, unmoving for the moment, as he considered again how everything had just fallen into place. Bling ambled up beside him. Eyebrow raised, Logan looked up at his therapist to drawl, "I wondered if you'd gotten lost."

Bling grinned, hearing amid his words Logan's eternal complaint that he was a mother hen in situations like this. "Just gettin' your back. Put a rear-view mirror on your chair, you can keep a better eye on me." The reaction of consternation was just the one he expected to see, and he smirked in success at the look. "You ready to head back?"

"I think our work here is done." As they headed out to the Aztek, Logan glanced up to Bling and asked, "do you think Cindy looked alright? She looked a little unsteady up there."

"Hard to tell that far away, but I think she's alright. I can take a look at her, if she'll let me, or we could get her into the clinic and see..."

"Thanks, Bling."

"You did good work today, Logan," Bling observed. "Calling out the devil. He sure wasn't expecting that."

"Maybe it was overkill," Logan post-mortemed. "Like swatting a fly with a grenade ."

"Lydecker's no fly," Bling opined. "You probably did need that grenade launcher." He frowned a little to add, "I saw that look he gave you. He knows it was _your _grenade launcher that did all this. I suspect you're on his list now."

Logan snorted as he opened the door to his car. "I've been on his list for a while, I think. Maybe this all will make it harder for him to do anything about it."

"We can hope." Bling took a last look at the protestors as they wandered back to their lives, apparently pleased that their little show of anarchy had seemingly done some good for Seattle and the woman held captive. As he climbed into the passenger seat, he considered what the afternoon might have brought for Logan. "What now?" he asked.

"Max is going to the police station to get Cindy. I suspect she'll want to spend the evening with her."

"And you?"

"Home. Work." Logan shrugged, then grinned. "Catch all this again on the 6 o'clock news?"

Bling nodded, and added slyly, "something to go with those reps you were supposed to be doing about now. What'd'ya think?"

Logan started the car, rolling his eyes with a long-suffering snort. "I suppose, if you insist."

"Like it's all about me."

"Like it's not."

Bling smiled softly, letting him yet again have the last word...

_**...to be continued...**_


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER: Dark Angel borrowed; as always, no profits realized. **

_**Christmas in July Challenge: Gift for Insane Troll Logic**_

Please see Chapter 1 A/N to see the Challenge assigning this story and the requests made by ITL inspiring it.

**A/N:** Finally dragging this gift to a close. Mia, thanks for managing the Challenge; Merry Christmas, Troll... and thanks to everyone for reading. Reviews, comments, rants, thoughts, complaints all welcomed...

_**AS SIMPLE AS THAT**_

_Chapter 5_

"Logan?"

Nearly three hours after the stand-off, Logan was back again in front of his computer, Bling there and gone after fitting in a session with him in front of the news. He felt some lingering satisfaction that the local media had been engaged enough with not only the story of what had happened to Cindy, but with the resulting public interest in the threat of another secret government conspiracy, that more investigation and follow up from them was guaranteed. A triple win, as far as he was concerned: more investigation into Manticore and its intentions, more headache for Lydecker and his cronies, all with less direct exposure for Max and Eyes Only. _Quintuple win_, he corrected himself, _because it also got Cindy out of their clutches– and is likely to make them close up shop here, at least for a while..._

But the sound of his door and Max's appearance surprised him. Given events, he had expected Max to spend the evening with Original Cindy, making sure she was okay and probably assuaging her own guilt that her best friend had victimized been as a result of their friendship. He looked up to see her rounding the corner into the room, her mood unreadable from her expression.

"Hey," he began, not sure what to expect. "How's Cindy doing?"

"Okay, I think. She _says_ she's fine, but she also came up with a sudden urge to go see her family." Max shrugged, clearly juggling the thought along with everything else that had happened though the day. "There's a bus leaving in about an hour, so while she's packing I told her I'd go get the ticket, so she wouldn't be held up waiting in line."

"Oh – here; do you need some...?"

As he immediately turned to reach into a drawer, Max was struck by his ready willingness to give his money, his safety, all he had, for others, and prodded herself to remember that such generosity _defined_ Logan Cale. "No – I got it..." she murmured, as she reached into her jacket and pulled out the boarding pass, waving it a little in front of him before slipping it back in her pocket. "Didn't have to wait too long after all." The question she had for him, leading her to come out of her way to see him _now_, before getting back to Cindy, suddenly sounded ungrateful and uncalled for. She stalled. "I'm on my way back to get this to her, but I wanted to stop..."

Logan cocked his head slightly to one side, as if seeing through her. _Not like Max to hold back, _he thought. _Of course, this has been one hell of a day for her. Cut her a little slack, Cale... _

She looked almost as if she was now unsure why she'd come. After a moment, though, she said, eyes flickering away from him, looking around the room in her awkwardness, "look, what happened today – you really smoked them, you know?" She shook her head, still taken with how things had turned out. "Who'd've expected something so direct and in their face to work?" She paused, lifting her eyes now to make contact with his. "...except you. You probably had it all figured out..."

"Me? No; I had no idea it would end as easily as it did, with Matt just talking Cindy out of there. It worked better than I'd hoped." He continued to look at Max closely, and had a sneaking hunch he knew what was bothering her. "Max... what?" At her shrug, he pressed, "c'mon – you don't like the fact that Lydecker got away..."

With his words, she immediately pressed, emotionally, "why did you not only let him off the hook, but _help_ him off?"

"He's not getting off the hook.." Logan smiled the comfortable smile of one self-assured, pleased that he'd guessed right about what had been bugging her. "That many media people on the scene, with that sudden and dramatic an event – someone is gonna follow it up, even if only second-stringers or new hires who hope to catch a big, exclusive expose. I suspect if they need a little help along the way, it can be funneled to the right people, at the right time. But however it happens, it will be done with some research, and a little time and distance – which ought to put you right back on your bike, anonymously blended with everyone else at Jam Pony, when it all comes back to haunt him."

She wavered, looking at Logan as he explained his reasons for what he'd done to help end the stand-off, and her look softened from demanding indignation to surprise, as she began to understand his motives in helping Lydecker find an easy exit from the crowd's demands. Mulling over his words, she even seemed to look a little self-consciously guilty for ever doubting him. "Figures," she finally allowed. "Always gettin' my back, aren't you?"

"Somebody's got to, while you're so busy getting everyone else's."

Max nodded, appreciating his easy willingness to ignore her accusative tone. "Look – I'd better get Cindy's ticket to her – and I want to hang with her, you know, 'til she gets on the bus and safely on the road."

Logan's smile of understanding was soft, and he nodded. "Sure. You two need anything?"

"Nothing else," her slow smile acknowledged all he'd done so far, "but I know who to call if we do." Still, she didn't leave, wavering as she thought again of the enormity of what he'd accomplished that day, the many questions Lydecker still left in her, unanswered. "Logan, you know you may have just pushed things enough with them that they'll come after Eyes Only, now, too – or you. Or both..."

"Or, there will be enough of an outcry, and enough investigation, that Manticore will have to shut down, for good. It's a different world now than when they set this all up a couple decades ago, Max."

"Tell me about it." She looked at the man before her, his eyes gazing into hers steadily, his intensity dissipated, now that things had gone down safely and Cindy – and Max – were out of Lydecker's reach. With a sudden, dazzling smile and a laugh, Max added, "Zack would be so pissed if he knew that you were able to diffuse Manticore with a bunch of civilians, a plan cooked up in fifteen minutes, and sheer audacity."

Logan grinned. "Good. I think I like getting one up on him, for a change."

"Logan," Max finally breathed, reaching out to him, reaching her arms around him to encircle him with a heartfelt, emotional hug. "Thank you. For every part of this."

Logan returned the warm embrace, smiling softly to himself as he closed his eyes and let himself just be in the moment, in her arms. "Glad to help," he murmured softly, his words echoing an earlier Max and Logan. He held her only another few moments, though, knowing that Cindy needed her now, more than he did, and he gently eased his hold. As she disentangled and straightened, he offered, "you'd better get going."

"Right," she nodded, only partly beginning her turn before looking back, her eyes making contact with his again. "So, you going to be up for feeding a girl later, or should I bring some pizza on the way back?"

"Pizza..." He almost looked surprised, doing what he could to minimize the delight threatening to paint his face, knowing that she would be back again soon. "I haven't had pizza in a while."

"Pizza it is." She grinned happily and as she turned to walk out of the penthouse with a cocky swagger, emphasized for the gaze that she knew followed her, she called over her shoulder, "not even gonna ask what kind – 'cos I know all your favorites."

Logan continued to sit, unmoving, for several minutes after her exit, still smiling softly to himself. _That you do, Max,_ he mused. _And for some crazy reason – that fact beats everything else that happened today by a mile..._

_xoxoxoxoxoxoxo _

In another two hours, Max appeared at his door with two large pizzas and grinned to see that he'd made a salad and had even managed a growler of beer from a local micro-brewery that had just reopened not too far away. She teased him about trying to turn even a lousy pizza into a gourmet meal, but scooped out a generous bowl of salad for herself and let the taste of the rich beer roll around in her mouth appreciatively. Her next words, about his additions to the meal, were genuine, as she thanked him for making a trip to get them real beer and fresh lettuce...

But as they began to eat, Logan saw that she was more quiet than usual, probably still shaken by having one of her worst fears realized – Lydecker had using someone close to her to get to her.

"Max – Cindy's fine," he urged, trying to help her get past the day. "I can't imagine he'd try the same thing again with her. Not after the reception he got."

"Maybe not..."

Her tone was vague, not connecting with what he'd said. It was clear that her worries were winding in a much different direction for the moment – and Logan frowned. "Max? Something else is bothering you about all this..." His words penetrated her thoughts and she seemed to come closer to earth, looking up at him almost guiltily. Not getting it, he asked, "there's more?"

She breathed out, slowly, as if considering whether or not to admit what was going on in her head. Finally, she shrugged and admitted, "Lydecker said something else, this morning. He made it sound as if we didn't escape, really, but that they _let_ us go... or..." Logan waited. "Or at least let us stay away, rather than catch us. Either way, that it wasn't so much our avoiding them, but _their_ letting us out, on a long leash."

Logan frowned slightly in surprise, but then considered it for only a moment before shaking his head. "Sounds like sour grapes to me," he opined, flatly. "Or making lemonade..."

"Meaning what?" She had no idea how he could be so certain, but wanted to be, too.

"Damage control," he shrugged. "It's possible," he added, seeing her skepticism. "You and the others escaped and they couldn't manage to catch you, so as the weeks went by they decided to report that they _let_ a few of you escape to track your actions, just a long-term test to see how you all could do among the common folk. It could be a cover for any failed attempt they made to catch one of you – they report their attempts as challenging your skills, not a serious effort to capture you. They document their 'observations' of your evasion, pad their reports, if needed, by borrowing a few police reports about local thefts or attacks, maybe, whatever they needed to develop a picture of an X-5 commando in the field, under 'combat' conditions. If they capture you, the test is 'over;' if not, each failure becomes field testing and data gathering."

She snorted. "Sounds like them." She grabbed another piece of pizza and took an angry bite. "Lydecker's a snake. Just like him to say 'no, we didn't screw up, we _let_ you leave.' He'd never admit failure – even if it just proved their success in training us." She fell quiet again, her expression still dark in thought.

Logan looked at the pretty face, far from comforted, and knew that she'd let Lydecker's suggestion raise even more doubts about the past decade since she'd escaped. Playing a hunch, he spoke again. "Max," he began, his voice quieter now, "from anything that I've seen ... Zack has led his life making sure each of you were okay, when he's dropped in on each of you. That's all..."

Her eyes flashed. "Why did you bring up Zack, all of a sudden?"

He knew he'd been right. "Because I must have guessed the rest of what's bothering you."

She shook her head, stubbornly. "No way, Logan," she finally said, low. "No way will I believe that Zack is spy for them. He hated them more than any of us did. "

"I wasn't going to suggest that." He looked at her closely, saw the pain in her eyes ... and knew Lydecker had. "But ... _you've_ been afraid that maybe he was ..."

She stood quickly and paced away to stare out the window, almost as if running from the possibility in his words – and in her thoughts. She was silent for several minutes, and Logan said nothing to intrude as she worked out the painful possibilities. Finally, he saw her shoulders sag slightly, and after another few moments she admitted, softly, "ever since Lydecker wanted me to think it was planned, it's ..." She turned back to him, and Logan could see that there were still tiny glimmers of tears in her eyes that she refused to let fall. "I can't believe it; I won't believe it. But ... it's _possible_. Zack could have been used as a handler, as someone we would trust, to keep an eye on us and feed Manticore information about where we were and what we were doing."

He nodded, knowing how much it must hurt her to acknowledge that much. When she said nothing else but stood at the window, still apart and hurt, he said, "I guess you have to bear it in mind, if only for your safety. But Max – what I've seen of him, the little bit we've talked – I'd trust Zack and his genuine concern for each of you over anything Lydecker had to say."

She looked at him from across the room, wavering, adding his comments to the thousands of memories and questions of her own swirling in her head, and she finally moved back to the couch, sinking down to sit beside him, the tension in her starting to relax just a little. "You really think so?" She asked quietly, in hope. As he just nodded, silently, but with complete confidence, she relaxed a little more. "Me, too." She leaned over to pull a mushroom off one of the cooling pieces of pizza in front of her and admitted, "it helps, your thinking that Zack's okay."

Logan's brow clouded and he drew a careful breath. "Max –I don't mean that you should go back to trusting him so completely..." As she stiffened and her eyes flashed again in her defensiveness for her brother, he tried to soothe as he explained, "I _do_ trust Zack s concern for each of you, as far as his conscious intentions – but you can't ever be certain of what's happened to him, over the past ten years. From what you've told me about Psy-Ops, and all the things could have happened, if they caught Zack after the rest of you escaped – or captured him any time in the past ten years. They could have filled him with memories of being out the entire time, erased all memory of any capture and re-programming he received ... they could have simply implanted some sort of tracking device in him so they could follow him any time he took off to find one of you. They could have planted triggers, so if they wanted to bring any of you in..."

"I get the idea!" she blurted in her anger, again popping up to escape the words.

"Max ... maybe nothing like that happened..." Logan offered softly. "It only means that you have to remember to be cautious..."

She turned back to see the troubled eyes, the concern he had for her, and knew she was venting her anger and pain at the very last person who deserved it. Slowly she leaned back against the window and, the pain for Zack weighing heavily, she spoke quietly, eyes cast toward the floor. "I know..." She sighed, sadly. "After so many years of having to be 'cautious,' with everyone else, I hate to have to add Zack – or any of the others – to that list."

"For what it's worth..." Logan offered, his rich voice soothing her hurt. "Nothing I've seen from him, and nothing I've found, suggests anything but what you remember – that he'd decided that none of you was safe staying there at Manticore, and that an attempt to escape and live on your own was a better option than staying there. _He_ decided. Besides," he watched her carefully, seeing his words helped a little, and that she understood his concern, "they expended a lot of time and money not only on the twelve of you, but on the whole project, and keeping it quiet. Remember, it was all happening back in the days when a good number of politicians and their constituents were irrational about the idea of cloning and stem cell research – the science was often misunderstood or misrepresented, and there was a decidedly conservative voice in politics at the time that argued against anything like what Manticore was doing. If any of you had spilled their secrets, you could have brought a lot of influential people down." He shook his head. "There are just too many reasons that everything happened just as you thought it did – and anything that _did_ happen to the contrary was merely Manticore trying to scramble and mitigate their losses by finding some little bit of useful information from their very gifted runaways."

She'd lifted her eyes to Logan's as he spoke, assuring herself of his candor and hoping that in this, as they usually were, his insights were right. After a moment she responded. "Like lemonade from lemons?" she asked softly, a thread of her own hope there.

"Something like that," he promised.

"Speaking of which," she pushed away from the window and slowly came back to his side. "Did I properly thank you for getting the whole town out to help Original Cindy? And for arranging Don's public humiliation?"

"The pizza was more than enough," he smiled, "but I can't take credit for Matt's facing Lydecker off in the public square. That was all him."

"He's good." She nodded, smiling too, but it faded again after only a moment. "What do you think, Logan? No matter what, it's not his style to slink off in the night."

"Maybe not, but he's got to know with every act he risks more people learning about what went on with you and the others. He can't want that – and I suspect there are higher placed people who want it even less." He sighed, but had to add, "you know there's a risk that they might figure if they're this close to being blown, they might as well risk it one more time in even a more obvious show of force if it could finally bring you in?"

Max rolled her eyes and in some frustration, countered, "you think they haven't been giving it their all, so far?"

Logan shook his head, his tone conciliatory, in an effort to smooth her ruffled feathers at the implication. "You know what I mean. If so far he's only brought a few men, so as not to be too obvious, he might now figure what the hell, go for broke. You said it just now, Max – it's not his style to slink off with his tail between his legs..."

"...and he doesn't like being beaten."

Logan looked at Max, thoughtful now, as she yet gain mulled over her long-time adversary, and finally asked, "so ... what do you think?"

She looked back up to him, seeing his concern and care for her, his strength and intelligence, and knew that any of the options she'd just been weighing were unworkable if they didn't include him. Suddenly smiling with a look of cocky self-assurance, she replied, "I think I've beaten him every time so far – sometimes, with a little help from my friends. Far as I'm concerned, he can bring it on."

Logan was torn by her reaction, pleased to see her bounce back, but unconvinced she was as concerned for her safety as she should be. "You know..." he began, slowly, "if it's time for you to leave town..."

"Not even close," she interrupted, with a stubborn smile. "You're not going to get rid of me that fast, Logan Cale. I have too many questions left for you ... and too much pizza to leave behind, just because some deep black government agency is still pissed that I walked out on them." As she lifted another piece of pizza to her mouth, Logan could see that Max had made up her mind and, despite her flip words and apparent refusal to see the danger, she knew, more than anyone could, what might be waiting ahead for her.

Logan considered her words, and her stubborn refusal to consider his. Maybe later tonight, or maybe tomorrow, he'd bring up the idea again that she might want to leave town – at least for a while. But the evening was getting on and she was unlikely to be swayed from her reasoning tonight. Relaxing into the inevitable, he finally smiled in concession, and reached over for another piece of pizza, too. "What questions?" he played along. _For Max_, he told himself. _Even transgenic soldiers fleeing their evil creators need to put it aside, once in a while..._

"Plenty," she murmured as she munched. "Like Eyes Only's connection to S1W," she bagan, expansively. "... and that little blonde out there with them," her eyes narrowed as she remembered. "What was her name...?" she looked at him, as if daring him to answer.

_Asha_, he thought, remembering that he saw Max following her through the crowds. "Blonde?" he stalled.

"Blonde," Max repeated, watching him closely.

"Hmmm..." he chewed his pizza thoughtfully, then shrugged, the picture of innocence. "Can't really say. I'm afraid my mind was on other things..."

"Uh-huh," she grunted, skeptically.

"...and I've always been more of a brunette man, myself." He glanced over to her with his words, and when he found her eyes twinkling in response, gave himself a couple points for turning a loaded question into a score for him. He grinned at her reaction, and she laughed.

"Funny how things work out sometimes," she smirked.

"I was thinking exactly the same thing." Lifting his slice of pizza toward her, Logan saw that Max immediately caught his thoughts and raised her own to 'clink' her slice against his. "To us," he toasted.

"To us," she agreed.

_xoxoxoxoxoxoxo_


End file.
